Legge's Hawk-Eagle

SCI Name:  Nisaetus kelaarti
Protonym:  Spizaetus kelaarti Ibis p.202
Taxonomy:  Accipitriformes / Accipitridae / Nisaetus
Taxonomy Code:  mouhae2
Type Locality:  Ceylon.
Author:  Legge
Publish Year:  1878
IUCN Status:  

DEFINITIONS

NISAETUS
(Accipitridae; Ϯ Mountain Hawk Eagle N. nipalensis) Genus Nisus de Lacépède, 1799, hawk; Gr. αετος aetos  eagle; "Genus Nisactus, (mihi.)  The birds of this genus are distinguished by wings and tail formed upon the accipitrine model; but their nares are transverse and speculated as in the eagles. Their festooned bills have a form which is osculant between the hawks and buzzards. They have the long slender plumed tarsi of Limnæetus, and the long, acute, and unequal talons of the noblest hawks and falcons, to which moreover they assimilate in their manners, adhering exclusively to the wilds, and killing their own prey, which consists of pigeons, jungle fowls, and partridges.   Species Nipalensis, mihi" (Hodgson 1836) (see Tolmaetus).
Var. Nisactus (original spelling), Nisaetos.
Synon. Necrastur.

kelaarti
Lt.-Col. Edward Frederick Kelaart (1818–1860) British Army, physician, zoologist in Ceylon (= Sri Lanka) (subsp. Caprimulgus indicus, Lonchura, subsp. Nisaetus nipalensis).